Level: Pre-Intermediate Target Audience: Adults Language / Skills Focus: Listening, Speaking, Creative Writing, and Use of the Tenses Materials: Photocopies of the worksheets to hand out after the storytelling.

IN CLASS Pre-listening: Before reading the story to the class, ask the learners (working in small groups) to make a list everything cats and dogs have in common, and then to make a list of their differences. The lists produced by the different groups can then be compared and commented on.

While-listening: Ask the learners to find out why the dog got angry with the cat.

Post-listening: Hand out the worksheets and work through the activities. The answers to the exercises are presented below.
Reconstruct the story by putting the following sentences in the correct order:
1-g / 2-j / 3-f / 4-a / 5-h / 6-c / 7-I / 8-e / 9-k / 10-d / 11-b

Here are two animal jokes. Change the verbs in brackets into the correct tenses:

1 went 2 talks 3 looked 4 repeats 5 hears 6 decided 7 took 8 returned 9 have had 10 has not said
1 found 2 had escaped 3 rang 4 am just phoning 5 have just found 6 were 7 called 8 took 9 liked 10 do you recommend

THE STORY
Once long ago, Dog was married to Cat. They were happy together, but every night when Dog came home from work, Cat said she was too sick to make him dinner. Dog was patient with this talk for a while, but he soon got fed up with making dinner for them both after a hard day's work. After all, Cat just stayed home all day long.
One day, Dog told Cat he was going to work, but instead he hid in the cupboard and watched Cat to see if she really was sick. As soon as Cat thought Dog had left, she started playing games with Kitten. They laughed and ran about. Cat wasn't the least bit sick.
Dog jumped out of the cupboard. When Cat saw him, she stuck a marble in her cheek and told Dog she had a toothache. Dog got so angry that he started chasing her around and around the house. And Dogs have been chasing Cats ever since

WHY DOGS CHASE CATS: WORKSHEET (i)
Reconstruct the story by putting the following sentences in the correct order:
a. After all, Cat just stayed home all day long.
b. And Dogs have been chasing Cats ever since
c. As soon as Cat thought Dog had left, she started playing games with Kitten.
d. Dog got so angry that he started chasing her around and around the house.
e. Dog jumped out of the cupboard.
f. Dog was patient with this talk for a while, but he soon got fed up with making dinner for them both after a hard day's work.
g. Once long ago, Dog was married to Cat.
h. One day, Dog told Cat he was going to work, but instead he hid in the cupboard and watched Cat to see if she really was sick.
i. They laughed and ran about. Cat wasn't the least bit sick.
j. They were happy together, but every night when Dog came home from work, Cat said she was too sick to make him dinner.
k. When Cat saw him, she stuck a marble in her cheek and told Dog she had a toothache.

1. __ 2. __ 3. __ 4. __ 5. __ 6. __ 7. __ 8. __ 9. __ 10. __ 11. __

Work in pairs. Ask each other the questions below, and then report back with the information you find out about your partner to the rest of the class:

a. They say the English love animals more than children. Is this true or false in your opinion?
b. What do you prefer - cats or dogs?
c. If you were born again as an animal, which animal would you like to be, and why?
d. What pets do you have, or did you have when you were a child?
e. They latest research indicates that people who keep cats as pets have fewer heart attacks. Why do you think this is the case?
f. How do you feel about blood sports like fox-hunting and bull-fighting?
g. If you don't like the idea of killing animals, why don't you become a vegetarian?
h. How do you feel about animals being kept in zoos or used in circuses - a good or a bad idea?

Working in small groups, now write collective stories about why cats chase mice. Then tell your stories to the rest of the class:

WHY DOGS CHASE CATS: WORKSHEET (ii)

Here are two animal jokes. Change the verbs in brackets into the correct tenses:

A man 1 _____ (go) to a pet shop to buy a parrot. He said "I hope it's a good one and it 2 _____ (talk)" The assistant 3 _____ (look) surprised. "Good? I guarantee that this bird 4 _____ (repeat) every word it 5 (hear)" So the customer 6 _____ (decide) to buy it and 7 _____ (take) the bird home. Three days later he 8 _____ (return) to the shop. He said "This bird's no god. I 9 _____ (have) him three days and he 10 _____ (not say) a word yet." The salesman said, "No, he's deaf."

A man 1 _____ (find) a chimpanzee sitting in his garden that 2 _____ (escape) from a pet shop. So he 3 _____ (ring) up the police and said "I 4 _____ just _____ (phone) to say I 5 _____ (just find) a chimpanzee." The policeman said, "If I 6 _____ (be) you sir, I'd take him to the zoo at once." The next day he 7 _____ (call) the police again. He said, I 8 _____ (take) the chimpanzee to the zoo and he 9 _____ (like) it very much. Where 10 _____ (you recommend) I should take him today?"

What animal jokes or funny stories about animals do you know? Get together in circles of four or eight and tell them to each other.

A LETTERGRAM
Answer the clues across to complete the grid:

1

R

2

R

3

R

4

R

5

R

6

R

7

R

8

R

9

R

10

R

11

R

12

R

1 Have you ever _____ a camel? - Yes, I have. On holiday in Tunisia once.
2 Seeing animals badly treated _____ my heart.
3 Actually, I'm not _____ of snakes but I'm absolutely terrified of spiders.
4 a talking bird from tropical countries with bright-coloured feathers
5 _____ you try to stroke the dog, you'd better check to make sure it doesn't bite.
6 Certain animals hibernate in _____ and only wake up again when the weather gets warmer.
7 No other animal is _____than a giraffe and nothing is slower than a snail.
8 If you've got a _____ like an elephant, then you're very lucky because it means that you never forget anything.
9 One way of getting a donkey to do what you want is by offering it a _____ to eat.
10 I've got nothing against clowns or acrobats, but making animals perform in a _____ is cruel and I don't think it should be allowed.
11 If you want to see a Koala bear in its natural habitat, then you'll have to _____ to Australia.
12 Bugs Bunny is a famous one - they have big ears and like eating lettuce.

The long-awaited Tell Us A Story, a resource book for teachers on storytelling, can now be purchased in downloadable format from the Brain Friendly Publications website www.brainfriendly.co.uk (see "Special Offers" section)

ISBN: 9791905231200
Type: Download
Price: £ 10

Tell us a Story
A download resource provided in .pdf form to introduce storytelling to the classroom. The book is A4 size with 76 pages.
This book gives a description of the history and art of Storytelling.
Included are 30 stories based on myth, fable, fact and fiction from around the world - from Georgia to Wales to China to Germany to India and Japan.
Good English is based on the speaker's ability to paint a verbal picture to entertain, excite and inform the listener. This book gives much needed practice to the teacher and to the student based on the art and ability to tell stories.
Full notes for teachers are provided on how to exploit the stories to gain the most from the story and from the language.
Designed for teaching at Council of Europe language level CEF - B1/B2; Intermediate to Advanced English Language Level. Where CEF is Common European Framework.